Zalone outdoes himself again as smash hit film nears record set by Avatar in 2010.
Buen Camino, the new film by Italian comedian, actor and screenwriter Checco Zalone, has become the most successful Italian movie ever at the box office in Italy.
Since its release three weeks ago on Christmas Day, the film has grossed more than €65 million, breaking the previous record set by Zalone’s 2016 movie Quo Vado? by a few hundred thousand euro.
So far, more than 8.1 million cinema-goers have seen Buen Camino which, like Quo Vado? was directed by Gennaro Nunziate.
However, in terms of ticket sales, Quo Vado? is still significantly ahead with 9.3 million viewers.
Buen Camino tells the story of a superficial millionaire who is forced to abandon his life of luxury to search for his estranged teenage daughter, eventually finding redemption while reluctantly trekking the Camino de Santiago.
In the coming days Buen Camino could even surpass the €68 million gross of the first Avatar film (2010) to become the highest-grossing film in Italian cinema history.
Zalone, 48, has co-written and starred in the four highest-grossing Italian films in Italy, including Solo a Catinelle (2013) and Tolo Tolo (2020), in third and fourth place respectively.
La vita è bella or Life Is Beautiful (1997), directed by and starring Roberto Benigni, held the record for the highest-grossing Italian film for many years before being surpassed by Zalone’s hits.
However, while Zalone’s films have higher domestic earnings, Life Is Beautiful remains the highest-grossing Italian film worldwide with a gross of more than $230 million.
